


Machines

by lesbaliens



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drabble, M/M, Other, POV First Person, Robots, Unrequited Love, go for it, i had some fun okay, if anyone wants to take this idea, im not a writer by any means, this was a weird idea, unnamed narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 12:01:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbaliens/pseuds/lesbaliens
Summary: After all, a machine can't feel love.





	Machines

I built Jonathan first. A tall hunk of metal brought to life by electricity and I regarded it as one of my most impressive creations at the time. It was truly ahead of its time.

But there wasn't much to it other than the movement and repetition of its work. What was once a great feat now seemed dull.

  
To me, inventing is an art. The creation of something new and beautiful, it must be art. And if it is so, then I would be an artist. I like to think of myself as such.  
But like most great artists, my work was never quite good enough. It had to be perfect.

  
And so I turned my attentions elsewhere, away from Jonathan. I could have easily just improved upon it but it was already complete. I wanted a blank slate.

  
I began my work on Edward soon enough. I never left my workspace during those two long years. Though to me, it felt like no time had passed at all. I like what I do, after all.

  
Edward was different from Jonathan. I created it— No. I created _him_ to be a work of art. He was capable of mimicking human emotion and thought. I soon understood why some of humanity feared a technological uprising.

  
He was perfect. Unlike Jonathan, his design was smooth and elegant rather than sharp and awkward. He seemed almost alive. Almost human.

  
But even perfection has its flaws. It wasn't long before Edward discovered Jonathan. His artificial intelligence drove him to near insanity with his obsession with my previous creation. If machines could go mad, that is.

  
He soon became useless to me with his obsession. He ceased functioning as he was intended to in favor of spending hours trying to communicate with the hunk of metal that was Jonathan.

  
I had given Edward too much life.

  
To a romantic, it would appear almost tragic. But machines can't feel love, no matter how they're built. They're incapable of such feelings. It was an illusion of emotion.

  
Jonathan showed no response to Edward's endless attentions. It wasn't built to feel after all. Jonathan continued to serve its purpose even with the younger machine practically hanging on it.

  
I decided after several months of Edward pursuing Jonathan, to remove Jonathan from the picture. It didn't take long to disassemble. The design seemed more simple to me now than it had while putting it together. It was a shame, really.

  
When Edward found out, he went into complete mourning. He was no longer a he anymore. Just an empty nonfunctioning machine now.  
And what use is a machine that doesn't serve its purpose?


End file.
